Building competencies

"After taking the initial experience of working in the HR Team of one of India's top IT cos, is it wise to switch to a smaller co in a different industry where one can get exposure to entire gamut of HR activities rather than being stuck at handling particular activity in the current organization? Would it help in the long run to look for such an opportunity ?"

Got this question from a friend of mine.

My answer to this one will be ' Depends'.

Depends on what kind of experience you gained at the big firm.
Depends on what kind of experience you expect to gain in the smaller firm
Depends on when or why you started feeling ' stuck'
Depends on where you eventually see yourself at the end of the small firm experience.

The HR role at a mega-corp varies considerably from that in a smaller firm...many of the smaller firm's HR strategies have to be tactical EXCEPT those that relate to building an organisational culture...A mega-corp can afford more strategic changes and sustained interventional techniques for cultural changes.

The challenges and gamut of HR activities dont really map well into the definitions of a ' Big ' or 'Small' firm..rather it maps into the lifecycle stage of the company and the product or service it provides. A small startup has different challenges when compared to a small family business. A big services business provides a different set of experiences and learnings compared to a big manufacturing unit.

The other side to culture in a smaller firm, especially one that has a founder member or an entreprenuer at the head, is that these leaders shape the culture for such organisations and often there may be little role for an external HR agent.

It may be a good idea to seek rotation within a mega corp into 3-4 different roles and then make the choice of shifting into a smaller org.

Would it help ? I am not sure that really matters at this stage in your career..

Would you learn a lot, what would you learn, and how or when will you be you prepared for such experience - These are the critical questions.

Regards
Deepak

The Talent Myth

Pradyot presents Prof.Moon's notes on decision making here

The Talent Myth is one of the reasons why corporations pursue star CEOs and performers at other levels in orther organisations.. " Deep Smarts " as referred to in the eponymous book by Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap...That's what is needed..the kind of smartness that is rooted in not just the mechanics of how to apply a skill but also in the social, cultural and time context of that skill and its application...

The problem with stars is that they often negate your organisations ability to build a team..Stars get results but often at the expense of sustainable long term growth....However, the strategy of constantly identifying stars to kick off an urgent or critical short term project and then moving in someone with Deep smarts may actually be effective!

Corporations, Organisations and Social Obligations

Spreading the risk.....A very common concept in life.

This common concept is often forgotten in the most man-made catastrophes...Malcom Gladwell's 'The New Yorker' magazine article from August 2006, has a very interesting view of the troubles that General Motors faces here

Protection from social risks associated with life , death , health and disasters are better covered when offset against the largest population available. Commercial entities and organizations can never claim to represent such breadth of population. They can very rarely spread their risks in complementary areas. Except a few multinational conglomerates like GE, most organizations have exposure to a certain type of business, or certain set of horizontally or vertically integrated opportunities. Hence, the notion that a business organization should support social liabilities related to life, death, health or disasters is unfair and unbalanced. I use the word 'support' in deference to the word ' contribute'. Yes, Business and in fact any social entity should contribute a proportionate share to social liabilities. But they should never be allowed or be asked to support complete structures of social liability.

Having said that..social responsibilities like education, environment and research are best supported through combined efforts of business and local governance. These are best managed in goal centered organisations and are forward looking opportunities for both businesses and communities.

How Will Millennials Manage? — HBS Working Knowledge

How Will Millennials Manage? — HBS Working Knowledge

My comment on the issue <>

There are ' Millennials' who have ' Had it all' and then there are 'Millennials' who have ' Had not much'...The theories propounded here clearly apply ONLY to those who have had it all...

A miracle of what democracy & liberal education through schools, colleges and universities brings...The magic of the millenials is all thanks to the revolutionary 60s and 70s that brought green revolution, food security and scientific progress to the nations that had democracy and liberal education!

Some of the discussion here tends to forget that through centuries of human existence, the younger people in a society always have speed, agility , new found creativity and faith in the current ideal....The Millenials are no different from the Baby boomers in their 20s and 30s in that aspect. The Key difference is the global perspective spurred by the explosion in communication technology and the economics of cost and market availability..A perspective that spurs willingness to go where they believe their dreams will be fulfilled.

As for the Millenials who have not had much to begin with....globalisation of economies will either turn them to violent detractors or spur them to gain the skills needed to succeed in a global world . And that needs to be the focus of the 'Millenial Have it all's and the 'Baby Boomers' too...If the ones that have been left behind are not brought into this global world, the risk is that you will lose everything...

You cannot manage the 'Millennial's..they are too confident, learning with the barrage of information all over their life and still focussed on finding that balance...you can only lead them..This is the age of 'influence' & 'coopetition'..They are yet to get over the fascination for tags, titles and psycho babble descriptions of 'leadership' and ' management'...Sooner than the other generations, they will get over it...because the global system wont allow fluff to float around for too long... The story here is to manage the generation mix..any organisation looking for sustained long term success needs multiple levels of expertise , wisdom and energy!

How Should Pay Be Linked to Performance?

A very interesting discussion on Prof.Heskett's HBSWK column - 'How Should Pay Be Linked to Performance?'...You can also find my comments on the site.

The Career Business Executive & The Social Worker

Career Business Executive ....Lives business...thinks of everything through the business perspective.....Falls in love with a girl he thinks of as 'The social worker".....Becomes worried that she will become encaged in his relentless pursuit of business...saddened that he may never be able to engage in a fruitful discussion of her social work interests.. This is ....in some parts my own story..My wife's a doctor( the kindest soul that I know) and I am a passionate business management guy(a results driven achievement oriented guy according those who know me )..

There are only two ways to go about this dilemma

Option 1 - >Both individuals accept that some of their interests do not match & allow for the time and space to pursue those independently.

Option 2 -> Each of you tries to develop an interest in the other person's passion for the sake of what you have committed to...Yes, it does take effort and it may not always work out...but atleast you will have the satisfaction of having tried and your partner will appreciate your efforts!

The one thing I have learnt in my relationships ( personal and professional ) - "Never extrapolate individual events into anything meaningful " . You cannot make a relationship work by suspending it on strings of idealogies and opinions.

My point - You dont marry anyone because you think you will be able to talk forever about topics and discuss idealogies...Marriage is not about what you like and dont like, what you can talk about and what you cant, what you eat and what you dont...

Agreed that you cannot ignore the practicalities of life...But who ever realised a dream by letting practicalities limit them....The dream of married life is to build a wonderful relationship by surmounting the practical challenges and walking together as a team!

Now..for the social worker part, Profit pursuit does not necessary have to be at the expense of social interests! Gandhi, Buddha or Martin Luther King , they were business leaders too....The work that they did is today studied by leading business schools as monumental leadership training....They did just the same thing that every business aspires to - " To take an idea, build a system around it and passionately encourage the world to believe in that idea "Marketing, Operations, Strategy, HRM.....these are just the tools to achieve that goal.

A business cannot operate in isolation from society, nor can it succeed as a passive element, nor can it succeed as an opportunistic scavenger!

Business Management is Social work...It is a mechanism of evolving, developing & increasing value, effectiveness and efficiency in the society..it is a mechanism to ensure that the society gets maximum benefit ..

Why do we want to belong?

Vijay raises a very interesting discussion on the need to belong

Unions and such other congregations are less about identity and more about collective bargain....The so called sense of 'Belong'ing to such groups is either a statistical clingpost against adversities or a make-believe structure of strength . In our modern world, where our work and role in organisation structure tends to play a major role in defining our identity, unions provide the solace of being part of such entity...

Your ambition and confidence probably makes you disinterested in such coterie..However, for a huge part of population that looks at the job as a part of its mental makeup( and fears the loss of that job),the union is an essential support structure!